The WOODCIRCLES Travelling Demonstrator is a full-scale prototype developed by WTA and the WOODCIRCLES consortium to demonstrate a circular timber building system. It showcases how design for manufacture, assembly, disassembly and reuse can be applied to create adaptable, low-carbon buildings while testing the system through a series of public installations across Europe. The demonstrator is conceived as architecture in motion: a reusable building that can be repeatedly assembled, disassembled and reconfigured. Combining new and reclaimed timber components, it illustrates how buildings can become long-term material resources rather than disposable structures, with each component retaining both its value and history. The building is based on a modular kit of parts comprising glue-laminated timber (GLT) beams and columns, cross-laminated timber (CLT) wall and floor panels made from both reclaimed and new timber, and reversible mechanical connections. Prefabricated components are digitally identified to support efficient assembly, maintenance and future reuse.
Using the same kit of parts, the demonstrator can be reconfigured into different layouts to suit a variety of sites and uses. This adaptability demonstrates how circular timber buildings can evolve over time instead of being demolished, extending their lifespan and reducing material waste. Manufactured in Austria, the demonstrator will travel to Tartu, Torino and Rotterdam before being permanently reassembled at the Danish Technological Institute in Taastrup, Denmark, where it will remain as a lasting showcase of the WOODCIRCLES circular building system.
